Ah, so he’s decided not to bow out after all: the business opportunities of staying in the political race are far too good
This photograph shows Karmenu Vella, in his role as shadow minister of finance, on a business visit with his party leader. The obvious thinks-bubble for him in this picture would be: “Hmmm, maybe there’s an opportunity for me here as well.”
—-
If Karmenu Vella were not about to become a minister in Joseph’s cabinet, if he were not writing (ahem) the Labour Party’s electoral programme, nobody would be asking him to chair their companies or getting him involved in business deals.
His influence with the Labour Party is Karmenu Vella’s sole competitive advantage now that his Libyan network has blown up. John Dalli will soon be facing the same harsh reality.
Dalli has encountered some of it already, by his own account. He loves using Super One as a talk-therapist.
Dalli said with bitterness – to the born-again Joe Grima, I believe – that after his forced resignation from the cabinet fewer people wished to know him. Strange that he never stopped to ask himself why they wanted to know him before that.
It wasn’t because of his scintillating personality and vivacious conversation, that’s for sure.
Here’s Karmenu Vella, speaking a whole 10 years ago to Malta Today:
26 August 2001/Karmenu Vella
“I’ve always had heavy workloads and I don’t see any incompatibility between my working life and being a Member of Parliament. Outside Parliament, all MPs have a job to do. And I’m no exception.
“Having said that, I realise that by the time we go to the next election, I will have spent almost 40 years in the Party and almost 30 years in Parliament. I don’t regret a single minute. Honestly speaking, I hate to think that I’m one of those MPs who want to permanently remain in Parliament at all costs.
While still giving his full support to the Party, and unlimited assistance to his constituency to whom he readily expresses his gratitude, Mr Vella explains that he wouldn’t mind making way for the younger generation.
Asked whether he would be standing in the next general elections, he replies, “Within the Labour Party we have some very good young people with new ideas and a more dynamic approach. When the time comes, all MPs should be ready to move on and make way. All the same, I am still an MP and still an MLP candidate.”
10 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Not an easy one to tackle. There are the blatant ones like the ones mentioned above, and a bunch of others we all know about, on both sides. But what about the doctors, lawyers, periti… are they not all using their position to grow their consumer “market share”?
[Daphne – Oh, what a difference there is between getting more patients/briefs because you’re an MP, and using your political influence to further your business dealings. A business network can undermine democracy and transparency. A long list of GP patients can’t.]
True. And as we have repeatedly seen over the years, a network of lawyers, judges/magistrates, and criminals can also be very dangerous.
I think this cannot be avoided in Malta being so small, upright lawyers would know when not to overstep the mark.
In the terminology of another era, would Karmenu Vella qualify to be called a ‘baruni’?
A viceroy, at the very least.
Ten years ago there was Alfred Sant and, at 51, Karmenu Vella saw no future for himself in the MLP. Now there’s Joseph Muscat and, at 61, Karmenu Vella thinks that there’s a place for him in the Jurassic Park that Labour has become.
in 2001 he had already spent nearly 30 years in Parliament. Fast forward to 2011 and he no longer wants to give way to the younger generation and is eagerly awaiting to become a minister once more, maybe not finance, ghax indahal Edward dak x’jismu.
Another interesting statement he made – Outside Parliament, all MPs have a job to do.
With the same reasoning, outside parliament, ministers also have a job to do. So why all the fuss when ministers were given the pay due to them as well.
But then does he really want to become a minister? With his heavy workload, his pay cheque is much more than he could ever dream of as a minister
Husni Bey, one of Libya’s richest men, was a guest at the recent wedding of Karmenu Vella’s son to Miriam Dalli. He has bought several properties in Malta.
Now that’s news.
It would be nice to know if the properties are the ‘artijiet privati li s-sidien taghhom ihossuhom aktar komdi mal-Labour’.
Here’s an idea: how about paying MPs a decent wage for their parliamentary duties, and in exchange, enact and scrupulously enforce conflict of interest rules?